Controller Gary DiBileo takes another swing at time-keeping records

Controller Gary DiBileo sought backup from his counterparts across Pennsylvania in his latest bid to get Lackawanna County’s employee time-keeping records.

The county controller filed an amended lawsuit Wednesday asking county court to the order the commissioners to grant his office full access to the Kronos Inc. time-and-attendance system. Commissioners Corey O’Brien, Jim Wansacz and Patrick O’Malley are named as defendants in the complaint in mandamus.

Unlike Mr. DiBileo’s first complaint, which a judge threw out last month on a technicality, this one includes affidavits from six other county controllers who support his position that access to the electronic records is necessary to properly audit the county payroll.

“If you read them, they are pretty adamant,” Mr. DiBileo said.

County solicitor Donald Frederickson said the administration’s position on Kronos is unchanged.

“It’s a human resources tool, not a payroll tool,” he said.

Mr. DiBileo has been trying since last year to gain access to the raw data collected by the Kronos system, which about 45 percent of county employees use to clock in and out of work.

The controllers from Berks, Centre, Cumberland, Erie, Lebanon and Lehigh counties submitted affidavits attesting to the importance of access to all payroll financial records for a controller to perform his duties.

“To preclude a controller access to payroll and time-keeping records renders the controller unable (to) exercise the office’s core authority and responsibility in regard to this largest county expenditure category,” Cumberland County Controller Alfred L. Whitcomb wrote in his affidavit.

Contact the writer:

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com

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